


Shore Leave

by Mireille



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-10-09
Updated: 2005-10-09
Packaged: 2018-08-18 19:28:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8173148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mireille/pseuds/Mireille
Summary: Why revisiting old haunts is not always a good plan.





	

**Author's Note:**

> There's mention of Jack/OC, but when isn't there mention of Jack/OC? 
> 
> Written for the [Jack Harkness ficathon](http://www.livejournal.com/users/kataclysmic/401800.html?style=mine).

"You might have mentioned this," the Doctor said as the door slammed shut behind them. After another few seconds, they heard the unmistakable sound of heavy bolts being slid home. 

"I told you I'd been here before," Jack protested. 

Rose wasted no time in claiming the bunk--essentially a low, wide shelf built into the wall, with no blanket or pillow in sight, but the only thing in the room. "You didn't tell us you were on the Ten Most Wanted list, though, did you?"

"I didn't know!"

"You stole the crown jewels," the Doctor pointed out. "Most governments frown on that sort of thing."

"And I'd have kept that in mind, if I'd stolen them, but I didn't."

"Because stealing's wrong?" Rose said skeptically. 

"I wasn't a _thief_ , I was a _con man_ ," he said. There was a definite difference; he might have misled people, but he'd never actually taken anything they hadn't given him. "And like the Doctor said, we're talking about the crown jewels. You'd have to be an idiot to steal those."

The Doctor's pause was just short enough to leave some _slight_ doubt about whether it was meant to be significance. "So you didn't have any trouble with the authorities when you were here before?"

"Well...yeah," he admitted. "But I didn't realize it was about _that_...." 

***

For a backwater planet, Jack thought, this place held a certain charm. It wasn't so technologically primitive that they hadn't discovered indoor plumbing, but even here in the capital, the pace was slow and relaxed; no one seemed to have anything urgent to do. It was a market day, apparently, and Jack ambled through the central square, looking at brightly colored fabrics and intricate blown glass baubles. 

He ought to think about getting some breakfast; he had a little local currency in his pocket, So far, though, the only food stall he'd seen had been the local equivalent of a greengrocer, and the vegetable--or possibly fruit--the vendor had cut open to demonstrate its freshness to one of the locals had been bluish green and somewhat runny. He decided he wasn't _that_ hungry. 

He probably could have gotten breakfast out of Aren if he'd stuck around, but he wasn't altogether certain how the locals would react to the idea that an alien had spent the night with the heir apparent to the throne. Some places were picky about that sort of thing.

"Over there!" someone shouted, and Jack realized that a small group of guards were on the opposite side of the square. One of them was pointing directly at him, which answered his question about how picky this place was about aliens. 

As he sprinted toward the place where he'd hidden his ship, he couldn't help but feel vaguely disappointed. They wouldn't have known about him if Aren hadn't told them--he'd slipped out undetected, he was sure--and handing your one-night stand over to the palace guard wasn't playing fair. 

***

"You thought they were going to arrest you for sleeping with the--prince or princess?" Rose said. "You didn't say."

"Both. Not like that," he added at Rose's slightly shocked look, though if Aren _hadn't_ been an only child, he'd have been willing to consider it. "They're hermaphrodites. And you'd be surprised how many cultures have a problem with the idea that the royal bloodline might be contaminated by an alien." 

"What, do you make a habit of seducing.... Wait, I already know the answer to that one," Rose said, grinning. 

The Doctor didn't comment, only shook his head. Jack was fairly sure he was _thinking_ "What am I going to do with you?" The last time he'd asked that, though, Jack had given him a detailed answer, and he'd obviously learned his lesson. Instead, he took the sonic screwdriver out of his jacket pocket and started to work on the lock. 

Jack went over to the bunk, nudging Rose so she'd make room for him. She sat up, and Jack took a seat next to her, leaning back with his hands folded behind his head. There wasn't much they could do to help the Doctor; they'd just end up getting in the way. He didn't ordinarily mind annoying the Doctor, but at the moment, it seemed ill-advised.

After a few minutes' work, the Doctor tried the door. The handle turned easily, but the door still didn't open.

"Barred?" Jack asked.

He nodded. "And the bolts don't go all the way through to this side, so I doubt I can get them out--at least not in time." 

Jack winced. He'd been trying not to think about the sentence of execution; he'd managed to escape more than one of them, but that didn't mean he enjoyed them. Sometimes he'd enjoyed _escaping_ them, mind you, but that was different. 

The Doctor, however, had come up with another plan. "Rose? Not claustrophobic, are you?"

"No, why?"

He pointed toward the ceiling, where a grille covered a ventilation duct. "Because you're the only one of us who can get through that and slide those bars back from the door."

***

Once Jack was back in space, he settled back with a good stiff drink. That had been much closer than he liked; the guards had nearly caught up to him. He'd wanted to get out of sight before activating the ship's emergency teleport--a guy disappearing into thin air tended to scare people--but in the end, he'd decided he wasn't going to be able to outrun his pursuers. 

Besides, a little scare was no more than they deserved. Being chased by a bunch of armed soldiers hadn't done wonders for his own sense of calm well-being, either. 

Still, that was all over and done with; no real harm done. The only real disappointment was that he'd have to cross this planet off the list of decent places to go to unwind. If this was the way they reacted when he tried to have a little fun, it was definitely not the place for him. 

***

"Next time," Rose said, "I'm picking where we go on holiday." 

The Doctor went over to the console and activated the door control. "You're telling me you didn't have fun?"

"Fun? We were arrested! And you're not the one who had to crawl through those ducts. There were _things_ in there. Like spiders, but with teeth." 

"They weren't poisonous," he said. 

"And you don't have to worry about them any more," Jack said. "I'm pretty sure we won't be going back there. They _really_ don't like me."

"I can't imagine why," the Doctor said, grinning. "Besides, if you're still claiming you didn't steal those jewels--"

"I think I'd remember if I did."

"Then don't you want to find out what _did_ happen to them?"

"Are we making it a mission to clear my name?" he asked, grinning. "If so, give me an hour or two, and I'll give you a list of all the planets we need to visit."

The Doctor shook his head, setting coordinates on the console. "I'll assume that meant 'no'?"

After a moment, Jack shook his head. "Take us back, Doctor." He looked at Rose and shrugged. "It's a nice planet. I don't want to have to avoid it. Anyway, if we get this straightened out, there's an heir to the throne I want to look up."

"And what are we supposed to do while you're off...looking people up?" Rose demanded. 

"You know how this is going to go, Rose. We'll find the jewels, narrowly escape with our lives, and then he'll drag us back to the TARDIS before we get to have any fun at all." Jack grinned. "We'll have to make our own fun."

"My mum's Aunt Sophie used to say they did that back in the old days," Rose said. "I don't think that was what she meant."

"Probably not. I don't _remember_ any Sophie, at least...." he said, as the Doctor opened the TARDIS doors again and he stepped through them, though not _quite_ in time to avoid being smacked on the arm by a laughing Rose.

He wasn't entirely sure how he'd wound up being the kind of person who'd actually volunteer to go back into danger just to solve a relatively unimportant mystery. For right now, though, it was turning out to be fun.


End file.
